The Organic Cotswolds Cowshed

Welcome to the The Organic Cotswolds Cowshed. Set in the heart of The Cotswolds, one of the most beautiful areas in the UK, we are offering the most organic and toxic free environment that we can for our guests (Covid regulations allowing!) which may be important to you if you are allergic or intolerant to such things as added fragrance to laundry soap or the chemicals used in regular cleaning chemicals and sprays. We also try to be as environmentally minded as possible. Our cowshed is separate from the house by about 50'/15metres. The airbnb has it's own outdoor patio area, right outside the front door, with an outside dining table and four chairs plus two out door arm chairs , a small sofa and coffee table. Close to the cowshed on my neighbour's side is a big hay barn, so no BBQ in the outside space unfortunately - but you are welcome to BBQ in the orchard. We are right next to a working farm that has horses and the farmer's son operates his road sweeping trucks from it, but there are large amounts of time when there is no one around. Buckholt Rd, which we are are quite well set back from, is not a busy road at all - no constant traffic noise. It's also a very beautiful road. Mostly it feels peaceful here - we feel lucky to live here. I have two free range boys, aged 9 & 12. I will attempt to coerce then into a vow of silence during your stay but I'm not sure how well that will work! There is a footpath that goes through our property (not close to the cowshed though) that leads directly to the famous Cotswolds Way, the 102-mile long-distance footpath that attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world every year. So you can leave the cowshed and walk straight to the Cotswold Way without going near a road. We have pretty great fibre optic internet service here. In the cowshed it is 75mbps up and down. We have plenty of parking in the farmyard here plus an electric gate for extra security. I'm very happy to meet new people and love a chat, but I won't keep pestering you! Our property is 20 mins walk from Coopers Hill, the infamously steep drop where the unique, world famous and completely insane event of cheese rolling takes place once a year. A few thousand people gather to watch what looks like grown men and women being thrown down a cliff. It's not quite vertical but close enough! Before the mad adult races start, there's a kids race up the hill which is pretty safe and much more sensible. My 9 and 12 year old boys climb up it quite regularly. If that's not your thing, and are you are a mountain biker, a minute or less from our cowshed are a lot of steep bike trails that fly down into the valley that leads towards Gloucester. For some reason it's popular at night for cyclists who like to add more danger to their pastime! 3 miles down the road towards Stroud is the very pretty town of Painswick where, if you have any sense, you'll book into the Painswick Hotel for one of their superb cream teas - they even have a good gluten free version. It's a gorgeous hotel with lovely views across one of the many valleys around here. The hotel was fairly newly renovated when we first stayed there about 4 years ago. It was voted hotel of the year by the Sunday Times in 2016. The interior design is classily modern and warm. The staff are very relaxed and super friendly. Stroud itself is a very quirky, alternative, arty, rebellious and zen place. Lots of music, yoga, visual arts, alternative healing and a brilliant Saturday morning farmers market. Stroud is also home of Extinction Rebellion and Stop Ecocide, two important movements of our times. Stroud was recently voted best place to live in England by the Sunday Times! You should check out Stroud's beautifully put together equivalent of Time Out called Good On Paper. Usually available in some local cafes for free, it features everything that's going on in the arts in Stroud each month. You can also find Good On Paper online too. It's a very cool resource. When I arrived in the area 3 years ago I couldn't believe how much cool stuff was going on here. Of course since Covid-19 came along that's all changed, but hopefully Stroud's art and music scene will be firing on all cylinders again soon. We are about 1/2 mile from the nearest bus stop which is on the A46 between Cheltenham and Stroud. Boardgames - we so far have Monopoly, Pass The Pigs, Dobble, Ludo, Yahtzee, Junior Pictionary, Touring England, Scattergories, Chess, Backgammon and Scrabble. Plus playing cards. Watch this space!